The sad thing about the Winter Olympics is that, once you've watched your favourite event, it's over, and then there's no more skeleton for four more years.

But isn't that what art is for? To resurrect and prolong and deepen life's fleeting moments of happiness? 

Fortunately, here at the library, we have all kinds of books and movies to help you do just that: athlete's autobiographies! Olympic histories! Earnest, feel-good sports movies from around the globe, some with musical numbers! Goofy comedies, weird art movies, graphic novels, classics of modern literature.

And SO MANY hockey books.

We've conveniently arranged them by theme and included a few quotes, so you can select the sport and tone you prefer:

Alpine Skiing, Skeleton, Luge (w/Puppets)

 The Grand Budapest Hotel, directed by Wes Anderson

Admittedly, it's not a sports movie per se; but there's a great chase scene that combines all the best parts of alpine skiing, skeleton and luge – with puppets – and when that's done, you might as well settle in and enjoy the scenery.

Bobsleigh

In 1988, the Jamaican bobsled team captured imaginations by defying the limitations of climate. Twenty years later, we're more matter-of-fact about hot countries participating in cold sports: Jamaica is back with a women's team for 2018, and Nigeria now has a bobsled team, too.  (And India's sole luger, in spite of hailing from the Himalayas, reveals that he was inspired by Cool Runnings in this profile.)

"Let me lay out some difficulties for you. Snow: you don't have any. It's nine hundred degrees out there. Time: you don't have any. The Olympics are in three months. And me: you don't have me. As far as I'm concerned, the sport of bobsledding no longer exists." – John Candy in Cool Runnings 

"Now, when you believe, it doesn’t mean that the fear simply goes away and the challenges disappear. Believing in yourself really means that you’ve accepted that you might fail." – Devon Harris, author of Keep On Pushing

Also:

• Speed Kings: The 1932 Winter Olympics and the Fastest Men in the World, by Andy Bull

Curling

Are we surprised that all the books and movies about curling (the straight-up, the clever, the weird) seem to come from Canada? Do we feel a little shiver of nationalistic pride about that? We should.  

"It's not just a rock. It's forty-two pounds of polished granite, bevelled on the belly and a handle a human being can hold. And it may have no practical purpose in itself but it is a repository of human possibility…" – Paul Gross as Chris Cutter, in Men With Brooms

"What makes "Curling" unusually beautiful is the way an indecipherable blackness, marked by madness, incest and death, works its way into a system that it gradually corrodes without ever gaining the upper hand. It remains a mysterious, open film, uncluttered by any of the reassuring revelations or explanations that might console us…" – Jean-François Rauger in The Guardian, on Curling (So, clearly not a sports movie. But it does involve curling!)

Also:

• Throwing Rocks at Houses: My Life In and Out of Curling, by Colleen Jones

Figure Skating

I, Tonya isn't out on DVD until next month. But you can still watch this most crowd-pleasing of sports, as the mean girl of the podium draws a certain amount of flak from goofy comics and disgruntled ex-skaters:  

"They laughed at Louis Armstrong when he said he was gonna go to the moon. Now he's up there laughing at them." – Will Ferrell as Chaz Michael Michaels in Blades of Glory

"I was a competitive figure and synchronized skater for twelve years. And as much as it makes me cringe, an ice rink will always be a familiar place." – Tillie Walden, Spinning

Also:

• Ice Princess, starring Michelle Trachtenberg and Kim Cattrall
• Zero Tollerance: An Intimate Memoir by the Man who Revolutionized Figure Skating, by Toller Cranston

Ice Hockey

We have so many hockey books! So many good hockey books. Just one more thing Toronto hockey fans can feel good about this year.       

         
“There are two things that are particularly good at reminding us how old we are: children and sports.” ― Fredrik Backman, Beartown

 "I think that we both have a light in our stomachs. A special light…Like E.T. And the team needs someone to light the way. My stomach light needs your stomach light. We can all phone home together." ― Seann William Scott as Doug Glatt in Goon

Also: 

• Against All Odds: The Untold Story of Canada's Unlikely Hockey Heroes, by P. J. Naworynski
• All the Way: My Life on Ice, by Jordin Tootoo
• A Wild Stab For It: This Is Game Eight From Russia, by Dave Bidini
• Game Change: The Life and Death of Steve Montador and the Future of Hockey, by Ken Dryden
• Indian Horse, by Richard Wagamese
• King Leary, by Paul Quarrington

Downhill Skiing

 Hemingway did it; World War Two soldiers did it. People in Russia have been doing it for 10, 000 years. 

“Nobody climbs on skis now and almost everybody breaks their legs but maybe it is easier in the end to break your legs than to break your heart although they say that everything breaks now and that sometimes, afterwards, many are stronger at the broken places.” ― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

"I take jumping very seriously. Nearly as much as proving people wrong."― Taron Egerton as Michael Edwards in Eddie the Eagle

Also:

• Climb to Conquer: The Untold Story of World War II's 10th Mountain Division Ski Troops, by Peter Shelton
• Two Planks and a Passion: The Dramatic History of Skiing, by Roland Huntford

Snowboarding

Snowboarding seems to lend itself to two treatments: dramatic documentaries, and teen girl coming-of-age narratives. Here are two of each:

“The brave might not live forever, but the cautious never live at all.”― Kevin Pearce in The Crash Reel

 Also: 

• First Descent, directed by Kemp Curley and Kevin Harrison
• Girl Overboard, by Justina Chen Headley

Speed Skating

Technically, speed skating is not roller blading. But swap out blades for wheels, add a plucky kid and an inspiring mentor, and you get "Hawaa Hawaai", a crowd-pleasing Bollywood feature― which ought to be close enough. And if you miss the frigid austerity of the rink, you can always read Karl Ove Knausgaard's essay on the sport.  

“For me, movement through nature is pure medicine, for both body and mind.” ― Clara Hughes, Open Heart, Open Mind

"Little drops of water make the mighty ocean … little grains of sand make the beautiful land … little moments get together and make the mighty ages of eternity … don't consider these little moments useless my brother … they are the creators of the earth." – Saqib Saleem as Aniket "Lucky" Bhargava in Hawaa Hawaai  

 Also:

• Zero Regrets: Be Greater than Yesterday, by Apolo Ohno
• Going for Gold, by Catriona Le May Doan